Blade collector



Nov. 27, 1956 N. TESTI BLADE COLLECTOR Filed March 2, 1953 m h I "na -"EV..."

-posing of the blades as used.

United States Pa ent BLADE COLLECTOR Nicholas Testi, New York, N. Y., assignor to The Gillette Company, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Application March 2, 1953, Serial No. 339,535 11 Claims. (Cl. 30-40) This invention comprises a new and improved device for collecting and safely disposing of used safety razor blades. The device of my invention is so constructed and arranged that the user may remove a used blade directly from his open razor by a single continuous pass of the device over the razor and without the necessity of touching the blade in the process thus obviating the danger of cutting the fingers, heretofore ever present.

Going more into detail, the collecting device of my invention comprises an elongated hollow body having its bottom curved upwardly at one end or side and a cover of sheet metal secured to or in the bottom and having a pair of thin prongs extending outwardly in substantially tangential relation to the curved portion of the bottom and forming therewith a spring inlet gate for a blade picked up by the prongs and directed by them through the gate and into a used blade compartment in the body of the collector.

As herein shown, but not necessarily, the improved collector is incorporated in the organization of a dispensing device for fresh blades with the result that the purchaser has available in a single unit a supply of fresh.

blades that may be withdrawn one by one as required together with convenient means for collecting and dis- In a preferred embodiment of the invention having this double function, the used blade compartment is defined within the hollow body of the device by a sheet metal cover which is shaped to include the blade-liftingprongs as integral parts of the cover. The cover .and the prongs formed thereon may be of spring steel to give a yielding character to the inlet gate and to the prongs themselves.

As an optional feature internal projections or corrugations may be formed on the inside of the cover and so located as to deflect a blade when once delivered to the compartment into a position preventing an accidental escape.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a view in perspective showing one end of the blade collector in operative relation to the open head of a safety razor.

Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of the sheet metal cover forming the bottom of the used blade compartment.

Fig. 3 is a view in longitudinal section showing the collector as embodied in the organization of a dispenser, and

Fig. 4 is a view in perspective of the device as shown in Fig. 3, but in inverted position.

The blade collector is illustrated as embodied in the organization of a blade dispenser which includes a top portion 10, preferably molded of a resinous plastic material and having a finger opening 11 symmetrically located therein. The top portion has also side walls 12 and 13 which enclose the bottom portion 14. This portion 14 is curved upwardly at both ends and cooperates with the top portion to form an exit slot by which fresh blades may be discharged one by one from a stack within the dispenser. The bottom portion 14 has a centrally disposed inwardly ofiset wall or partition 15 which is carried by inner transverse walls 16 and 17 and with them forms a substantially rectangular well.

The well is closed and converted into a used blade compartment by a lower cover 18 of sheet metal as best shown in Fig. 2 as having side walls 19 and 20 designed to fit inside the side walls of the bottom portion 14 and to rest upon the inwardly offset wall 15. The cover 18 is provided with a longitudinal slot 21 which separates two forwardly projecting prongs 22. These prongs are thin and resilient in their nature, and if desired, may be provided with stiffening corrugations 23. The outer surface of the cover is unobstructed but it is provided adjacent to its slot 21 with internal projections 24 herein shown as being molded or pressed into the material of the cover. The inner or rear end of the cover is provided with a folded edge 25 and this is spaced slightly from the transverse wall 17 to provide an inlet slot by which a used blade may be presented by hand to the used blade compartment if desired.

The side walls 19 and 20 of the cover are provided with upwardly extending cars 26. These are arranged to be inserted through correspondingly located slits in the offset partition 15, and when so inserted they are bent over as shown in Fig. 3 to retain the cover 18 in place. When the parts are assembled as shown in Fig. 3, the main portion of the cover 18 lies flush with the bottom 14 while its prongs 22 extend forwardly and in substan tially tangential relation tothe curved end of the bottom 14 of the dispenser. The prongs 22 overlie a fiat area of the bottom portion 14 and form therewith a spring inlet gate leading to the used blade compartment which is bounded by the partition 15 and the bottom cover 18.

The bottom portion 14 as shown in Figs. 1 and 4 is provided in its curved ends with centrally disposed guide grooves 27. These grooves arefor the purpose of locating the device as a whole symmetrically and in line with the blade locating bar of a safety razor and, therefore, fall in alignment with the longitudinal slot 21 of the cover.

-In using the device above described a blade may be presented to the used blade compartment by hand either by slipping it beneath the folded inner edge 25 of the cover or by pushing it inwardly through the inlet gate between the resilient prongs 22 and the adjacent flat portion of the bottom 14. It will be clear that the prongs 22 yield to admit a blade presented in this manner.

' On the other hand, if the user wishes to collect a used blade directly from his safety razor, he may proceed as suggested in Fig. 1. In this figure is shown a safety razor head 30 having a centrally disposed blade-locating bar 31 and pivotally mounted cap sections 32 and 33. A longitudinally slotted blade 34 is shown as empaled upon the blade-locating bar 31 in the position it would normally occupy when the razor is opened at the conclusion of a shaving operation.

In order to collect the blade 34 from the razor the ends of the prongs 22 are first inserted beneath one end of the blade, and the device as a whole is aligned with the bladelocating bar 31 by engaging the end of the bar in the groove 27. As the device is advanced toward the right as shown in Fig. 1, the prongs 22 pass under the blade and lift it upwardly with respect to the bar 31. As the advancing movement of the device continues, the groove 27 acts as a cam track to elevate the whole device together with the prongs 22 so that the lifted end of the blade is carried up at the left-hand end of the blade-locating bar 31, but not entirely disengaged from the bar because the upper edge of the bar is received in the groove 27. This movement of the collector can take place because the bottom thereof is externally smooth and unobstructed.

The result is that the left end of the bar 31 follows up the solid left end of the blade and travels along the slot 21 thus dragging the blade for its entire length through the inlet gate and fully into the used blade compartment. In this movement the blade travels between the outer surface of the bottom 14 and the inner surface of the prongs 22, while the advancing corner of the bar 31 extends across both of these surfaces and into the groove 27- This relative longitudinal movement of the razor and collecting device continues as a single continuous pass until the advancing corner of the bar 31 reaches the inner end of the slot 21, with the blade now introduced fully within the used blade compartment. In order to permit this action the slot 21 is extended for approximately the full length of the used-blade compartment and of the side walls 19 and 20 of the cover. If desired, it may be con tinued through the inner end of the cover in registration with the groove 27 at that end of the device.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail an illustrative embodiment thereof, 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A blade collector comprising an elongated hollow body having a bottom which is unobstructed and curved upwardly in one portion, and a cover of sheet metal let into the bottom in substantially flush relation therewith and having a pair of thin spring prongs extending outwardly in tangential relation to the curved portion of the bottom and forming therewith a spring inlet gate for a blade, whereby a used blade may be engaged and guided into the hollow body of the collector by passing the collector in uninterrupted movement over the blade.

2.A blade collector as described in claim 1 further characterized by stiffening ribs in the said prongs that extend outwardly beyond the inlet gate.

3. A blade collector comprising an elongated hollow body having a bottom with an upwardly curved end portion, and a cover of sheet metal let into the bottom in substantially flush relation therewith, the cover being folded at one end and having thin flat prongs projecting at its other end that extend in substantially tangential relation to the curved end portion of the bottom and outwardly therefrom, overlapping a portion of the bottom and thus providing an inlet gate to the hollow body of the collector.

4. A blade collector as described in claim 3 in which the prongs extend in symmetrically spaced relation to an intermediate guide groove in the curved end portion of the bottom of the collector.

5. A blade collector comprising an elongated hollow body having a bottom with upwardly curved end portions, and asheet metal cover let into the bottom and having flat .forwardly projecting spring prongs overlying a portion of the bottom and forming a spring inlet gate therewith, the cover having internal projections blocking passage through said inlet gate and so preventing the escape of blades from the body of the collector.

6. A blade collector comprising an elongated hollow body of plastic material having a bottom with an upwardly curved end portion, and a sheet metal cover let into the bottom, folded at one end and presenting at the other 4 external spring prongs overling a portion of the bottom and forming a spring inlet gate with the curved end portion of the bottom and having internal corrugations blocking passage of a blade outwardly through said inlet gate.

7. A blade collecting device comprising an elongated hollow body having an unobstructed bottom upwardly curved at one end and provided with a centrally located guide groove, and resilient blade-engaging prongs extending ouwardly in contiguous and substantially tangential relation to the curved end of the bottom overlapping a portion of the bottom and forming a blade inlet'g'ate therewith, the guide groove being shaped to cooperate with the blade-locating bar of a razor to align the collecting device with a blade empaled upon the bar.

8. A blade collecting device as described in claim 7 in which the blade-engaging prongs are located symmetrically on opposite sides of the guide groove-and in proximity thereto, whereby a used blade lifted by the prongs from an open razor may be guided into and through the inlet gate. t

9. A blade collecting device comprising an elongated hollow body of plastic material containing a used blade compartment, a spring metal cover constituting one wall of the compartment and having resilient prongs projecting from one end thereof which are separated from each other by a longitudinal slot that extends centrally into said cover, the body of the collecting device having a curved guide slot registering with the longitudinal slot of the spring metal cover and the resilient prongs leading to the used blade compartment.

10. A blade collecting device for removing at a single pass a used blade from an open razor in which the blade is empaled on an upstanding blade-locating bar, said device comprising an elongated hollow body having an inner used-blade compartment, and a sheet metal cover closing the outer side of the compartment and having bladeengaging prongs at one end separated from each other by a longitudinal slot extending inwardly for approximately the full length of the used blade compartment and of a width permitting the free passage between the prongs of the blade-locating bar of the razor, the prongs leading tothe outer side of said compartment. 7

11. A blade collecting device of the character described in claim 10 in which the body of the device has an external guide groove registering with the slot of the cover.

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,912,531 Lawson June 6, 1933 1,935,311 Cook Nov. 14, 1933 2,295,747 Mills Sept. 15, 1942 2,298,594 Rueger Oct. 13, 1942 2,347,237 Benjamin Apr. 25, 1944 2,502,248 Colton et al. Mar. 28, 1950 2,562,115 Muros July 24, 1951 2,604,979 Roberts July 29, 1952 2,654,149 Bowen et al. Oct. 6, 1953 2,692,672 Shnitzler et al. Oct. 26, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 356,074 Great Britain Sept. 3, 1931 676,372 Germany June 2, 1939 

